Cargo anti-shifting structure for ships&#39; holds



June 19, 1956 R MacGREGQR ETAL 2,750,914

CARGO ANTI-SHIFTING STRUCTURE FOR SHIPS HOLDS Filed Nov. 19, 1953 5 Sheets-sneer. 1

June 19, 1956 Mac E ETAL 2,750,914

CARGO ANTI-SHIFTING STRUCTURE FOR SHIPS HOLDS Filed NOV. 19, 1953 3 Sheets-61mm. 2

June 19, 1956 MacGREGOR ETAL 2,750,914

CARGO ANTI-SHIFTING STRUCTURE FOR SHIPS HOLDS Filed Nov. 1-9, 1953 3 Sheets-Shun s United States Patent CARGO ANTI-SHIFTING STRUCTURE FOR SHIPS HOLDS Robert MacGregor and Joseph MacGregor, Monkseaton,

Whitley Bay, and James MacGregor, Whitley Bay, England Application November 19, 1953, Serial No. 393,122

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 5, 1953 3 Claims. (Cl. 114-75) This invention has reference to cargo anti-shifting structures for ships holds for preventing loose cargo such as grain from shifting, and has for its object to provide a strong construction capable of quick and easy erection and dismantling, and one, moreover, in which the components are not cumbersome or bulky but capable of stowage within a comparatively small compass.

According to the said invention a structure of the foregoing character comprises a plurality of channelled posts for erection in the hold with the channels of adjacent posts facing one another and means for securing the posts to the floor of the hold, in combination with a plurality of slat-like metal shutter plates adapted to slide in the channels and span between adjacent posts, said shutter plates having their upper and lower edges fashioned to interlock or to rest on one another.

The foregoing construction is particularly designed to enable the shutter plates either to be hauled up from the bottom of the channels, for which purpose a flange of each channel is cut away at the base of the post to enable the shutter plates to be inserted in the channels from the bottom, each subsequently inserted plate being interlocked with its preceding one as the assembly is hauled up; alternatively the plates may be lowered from the top in which case there is no need for the flanges to interlock. The flanges are preferably arranged to give the plates a Z-form. Interlocking is resorted to when the plates are inserted from the hold, but it is preferred to butt the plates together in the case of tween decks. The channelled posts are preferably attached to the fioor of the hold in a manner enabling them to be collapsed out of use from a normally standing position, as for example by dropping detachably into sockets or by being hinged to the floor of the hold.

In order that the said invention may be readily understood an embodiment thereof will be described by way of example, together with some alternative designs of shutter plates, with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the hold of a ship fitted with the cargo anti-shifting structure;

Figure 2 is half of a transverse section on the line IIII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan of the anti-shifting structure of Figure 1 (drawn to a larger scale);

Figure 4 is a perspective View, partly in section and partly broken away, of one of the channelled posts, with the ends of some of the shutter plates in interlocked positionthis view being drawn to a larger scale in relation to all three previous figures;

Figures 5 and 6 are perspective views of two forms of shutter plates with the ends in an abutting position as lowered from the top, and Figure 7 is a view of a detail hereinafter describedall these figures being approximately to the same scale as Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates a ships hold having coamings 2; one section 3 of a metal hatch cover is shown in position centrally of the hatchway. Inside the hold there is erected a plurality of channeled posts designated generally by the numeral 4 which are disposed along or near the fore and aft centre line of the ship. When the hatch web beams are employed, e. g. for supporting wooden hatch covers, the channel posts 4 are provided with means for attaching them to several thwartship web beams or a single fore and aft beam. Alternatively or in addition adjacent posts may be connected together at or near their tops, and if desired elsewhere in their lengths, by spreader stays 5 (Figures 1, 3 and 7). A convenient method of connection, as seen in Figure 7, is to provide horizontal lugs 6 projecting from the backs 7 of the respective channels, said lugs carrying pins 8 over which eyed ends 9 of the stays 5 may be dropped; or a bolt may be passed through the eyed end 9 and through a hole in the lug instead of using the fixed pin 8.

The respective lower ends of the posts 4 are attached to the floor of the hold by hinges 10, Figures 2 and 4, and the posts or some of them are conveniently made in two parts hinged together at 11 with lugs and pin 12 to hold the parts in the extended and erect position. This enables the jointed posts to be collapsed out of use as shown in broken lines in Figure 2. In cases where obstructions could not be allowed on the floor of the hold, as for instance where the vessel carries cargo dischargeable by grabs such as coal or ore, the hinging arrangement 10 is replaced by some other suitable device. For example tap screws may be put through horizontal cars at the feet of the posts and into the plating of the tank top underlying or forming the hold floor, the plating having a local doubling welded below to give the solidity necessary to take the screws. In another method of securing the posts to the floor, a simple vertical socket welded to the tank top suffices to receive the foot of the post, there usually being a wood covering over the tank top of the ordinary cargo boat sufliciently thick to have the socket let into it.

The channel posts 4 at the ends of the structure, see particularly Figure 3, are single channels having a back 7, a single front flange 13 and a single connecting web 14, and the intermediate posts, see Figure 3 and also Figure 4, are of double channel construction with two oppositely directed front flanges 13 and two connecting webs 14. The channels so formed of adjacent posts face one another to receive the shutter plates described later. So as to give rigidity to the intermediate double channel posts 4 it is preferred not to adopt an ordinary H-section channel but to use two spaced apart connecting webs 14 as illustrated forming an idle channel 15 (Figure 4) opening at right angles to the working channels 16.

Adapted to span between adjacent posts 4 and to slide in the channels 16, are a sufficient number of slat-like metal shutter plates 17 for filing the tween post spaces for the depth of about 8 to 9 feet from deck downwards. These plates are constructed with their upper and lower flanges fashioned so that they can either interlock with one another or rest on each other with flanges abutting. In Figure 4 there is illustrated an elongated Z-section with a flange 18 at each of the interlocking edges, the flanges of each plate being oppositely directed. Another arrangement of shutter plate 17 is seen in Figure 6 in which the flanges 13 are at right-angles to the body. It will be seen that the flanges 18 are oppositely directed, giving a 2- form suitable either for interlocking as in Figure 4 or abutting as in Figures 5 and 6 and facilitating stowage. When the plates are disposed as in Figures 5 and 6, one plate rests on the other, so that successive plates can be lowered from above on to one another instead of being hauled up.

When it is desired to erect the anti-shifting plates for hauling up as in Figure 4 they are inserted into the channels from the bottoms of the posts 4. For this purpose, the flanges 13 of the posts are cut away (see Figure 4) at their bottoms as at 21 to admit the plates 17. The first plate is raised and the subsequently inserted plate interlocked with the preceding one by hooking the flanges 18 together. Each plate, or only one plate (used for the topmost position) has holes 22 to receive hooks suspended from lifting tackle 23, so that by operating a ships Winch or hand tackle the plates may be hauled up, one step at a time, to fill the tween post spaces from top to bottom or as high as necessary. The topmost plate 17, when in position, is secured to the channel posts in any suitable manner such as by bolts 24 passed through the flanges 13 and back 7 of the post and through holes 25, one in each end of the shutter plate 17.

What we claim is:

1. In a ships hold having a bottom portion and a hatch opening at its upper part, a cargo anti-shifting structure inside said hold, comprising plate means, a plurality of aligned vertically extending post means supporting said plate means and forming therewith removable partitions, each of said posts including at least two vertically aligned and pivotally interconnected channel shaped post elements, a hinged connection between the bottom of the hold and the adjacent end of the lowermost element of each of said posts, each of said post means being adapted alternatively to be folded to a collapsed position adjacent said hinged connection, thereby reducing obstruction in the hold and to be vertically erected, the channels defined by said elements of two adjacent posts facing one another, pulling means connected to the upper element of each of said posts for erecting said latter, said plate means including a series of metal shutter plates slidably located in the channels of two adjacent posts for removal therefrom, said plates spanning the space between two adjacent posts, each or" said plates having its upper and lower edges bent so as to form lateral projections cooperating with corresponding bent portions of the vertically adjacent plates, the extreme lower element of said posts having a part of its channel edges cut away to enable the shutter plates to be removed from the channels from the bottom and hauled up.

2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein lugs are provided on at least certain of said posts at corresponding vertical locations thereof, said lugs extending substantially horizontally with their respective posts in the post erected position, removable stay means extending between two adjacent posts and means for removably securing said stay means to said legs.

3. A structure according to claim 1 wherein said bent portions of said metal shutter plates interlock, means for raising the first plate inserted in the channels of said post elements whereby all of said plates are raised as a result of said interlocking arrangement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 240,460 Rainey et al Apr. 19, 1881 720,124 Ferguson Feb. 10, 1903 1,517,682 McIntosh Dec. 2, 1924 2,079,635 Sharp May 11, 1937 2,236,912 Lukaszewski Apr. 1, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,672 Great Britain Aug. 13, 1890 461,166 Great Britain Feb. 11, 1937 470,119 Great Britain Aug. 10, 1937 934,249 France Jan. 10, 1948 

